BRENTWOOD, Tenn. -- More than six months after Egal Zamir exited as president of Delek US Holdings’ retail branch Mapco, the convenience store chain is settling into a new leadership structure that values teamwork and joint decisions.
CSP Daily News has learned that Mapco is now jointly overseen by senior vice president and chief operating officer Tony Miller, who served as interim president after Zamir left, and newcomer Rick Altizer, who is now senior vice president and chief brand officer. Both report to Delek US CEO Uzi Yemen. Zamir left the company in July to pursue new opportunities.
“I like to think of us as business partners, both moving in the same direction and relying on the full Mapco leadership team,” Miller told CSP Daily News in an exclusive interview.
As COO, Miller oversees human resources, organizational development, real estate and category management for the Brentwood, Tenn.-based chain of 370 c-stores, among other duties.
Altizer, who came to Mapco from Shell Retail Marketing North America in Houston in December, is responsible for overseeing foodservice development, advertising and marketing, and the chain’s large-format store concept.
“The new-store portfolio and the food offer are my two main strategic priorities,” Altizer, who also has 14 years of experience with McDonald’s Corp., told CSP Daily News. “We’ve been really successful with our private-label products and our rewards program, so the area where we need some strategic focus is on structurally improving the quality and consistency of the customer experience at retail on the prepared-food side.”
The overall direction of the company, however, remains the same.
“We’re focused on growing our new-to-the-industry stores,” Miller said. “Those stores are 5,000-square-foot stores with a significant emphasis on foodservice. There’s no change in that. We’re staying very, very consistent with our strategy. Rick will help us accomplish that strategy.”
Altizer describes Mapco’s current prototypes as “modern, light, bright, top-tier stores,” and he aims to capitalize on that with improvements where necessary.
To get there, he hints at more personnel additions coming in just a few weeks and expresses a strong enthusiasm for the future of the chain.
“Mapco is a great brand with a lot of upside, and these new stores that we’re opening are great neighborhood stores with a great offer,” he said. “We just want to make the foodservice offer even stronger and more compelling. Beyond that, we’ve got a growing portfolio of large-format stores that are impressive. And it’s exciting to have that kind of [offer]. I’m excited to be here.”
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